The April 8 Concert Features World Premiere of New Work by Foley

Chamber Music Pittsburgh (CMP) ends its 2023–24 MainStage Live season with a concert celebrating the Ying Quartet and Xavier Foley’s one-year artist residency. This spring concert features Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, Antonin Dvořák’s String Quintet in G Major, and the world premiere of a new work by Foley commissioned by Chamber Music Pittsburgh. The concert takes place on Monday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Downtown Pittsburgh.

United by a passion for music old and new, this collaboration of the Ying Quartet and double bassist/composer Xavier Foley embodies the collaborative spirit of CMP’s artist residency. Launched in CMP’s 2022–23 season with inaugural artists in residence Imani Winds, this program invites some of the world’s leading chamber musicians to mentor and perform with young musicians in Pittsburgh. The artists in residence collaborate with students from Hope Academy, Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra, Three Rivers Young Peoples Orchestras and Youth Chamber Connection, and Pittsburgh’s Creative and Performing Arts School.

The fearlessly imaginative Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a forward-looking view of chamber music for the 21st century. Now in its third decade, the Quartet regularly plays in many of the world’s most important concert halls while also bringing chamber music into the community via a diverse range of venues, from workplaces and juvenile detention centers to the White House. Ying Quartet features Robin Scott (violin), Janet Ying (violin), Phillip Ying (viola), and David Ying (cello).

Xavier Foley communicates his virtuosity and passion for music on the double bass, which is rarely presented as a solo instrument. In addition to his solo career, which earns him praise for his “dynamic panache” (Chicago Classical Review), Foley is a talented composer whose work has been performed at Carnegie Hall. He is a first prize winner of the 2016 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, winner of the 2014 Sphinx Competition, and 2018 Recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Program

• Franz Joseph Haydn String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 50, No. 1
• Xavier Foley New commission
• Antonin Dvořák String Quintet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 2

TICKETS at https://www.chambermusicpittsburgh.org/4357-2/

Categories: Arts and Ideas, Show Previews

Tags: Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Xavier Foley, Ying Quartet